Alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/

 

Alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/ 

/t/ and /d/ are alveolar plosives since the sounds are produced at the alveolar ridge. /t/ is unvoiced and is the counterpart to the voiced /d/. The tongue is the tool to block all the air. The tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge and the sides of the tongue press against the upper side teeth. In this way, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. The aspiration for /t/ is greater when it is the first sound of a word or the first sound of a stressed syllable. An initial /t/ or /d/ is much easier to recognize than a final /t/ or /d/.

/t/, /d/ minimal pairs

These are /t/ and /d/ minimal pairs, where the phoneme comes at the beginning of the word.

town down

two do

tie die

touch Dutch

train drain

try dry

tear dare

tear dear

ten den

tide dyed

tongue dung

tart dart

teal deal

team deem

tech deck

teen dean

tent dent

tide died

tin din

tire dire

tomb doom

tough duff

tout doubt

tower dour

tuck duck

tyre dire

tale dale

tamp damp

tell dell

tick Dick

tier deer

tusk dusk 

/t/, /d/ minimal pairs for pre-fortis clipping

These are /t/ and /d/ minimal pairs where the phonemes come at the end of the words. Notice that the vowel sound is longer with /d/ because it is voiced. In English, the duration of vowel length is shorter before a voiceless consonant and longer when they come before voiced consonants. This phenomenon is called pre-fortis clipping. The term ‘fortis’ amounts to voiceless sound and ‘clipping’ means shortening. So, ‘pre-fortis clipping’ means shortening of vowel sound before voiceless consonants. For example, the vowel in bad /bæd/ is longer than the vowel in bat /bæt/. 

bat bad

beat bead

bent bend

bright bride

but bud

cat cad

cute queued

debt dead

got god

hat had

write ride

ant and

at add

bet bed

cart card

eight aid

feet feed

flout flawed

height hide

heart hard

hit hid

hurt heard

kit kid

mat mad

meant mend

neat need

not nod

pat pad

pot pod

plate played

sat sad

sent send

set said

site sighed

spent spend

wait weighed

slight slide

stunt stunned